If
you've ever tried swimming with a rubber band around your ankles you'll
know it can be hard work. But used in the right way - and with the
right focus - it can be an insightful way to help develop your stroke.

Swimming
with a band isn't supposed to be easy so you have to mentally set aside
the difficulty of the exercise. Once
you've done that, using a band comes into its own as it gives you
immediate feedback as you work on different areas of your stroke.
Improve your technique and you will feel the benefits straight away as
your legs lift upwards and you pick up speed. In particular it helps
develop good rhythm and timing in your stroke, perfect for triathlon and
open water swimming in particular.

A band (sometimes also called
a strap) should lightly fit around your ankles which will hold your
feet together, stopping you kicking. It will also add some drag at the
back of your stroke, which will pull the feet downwards in the water,
making things more difficult than swimming normally.

A
band tends to pull your legs downwards which in turn can reduce the
amount of rotation in your stroke. Higher drag and reduced rotation can
increase the load on your shoulders so we
strongly suggest limiting the distance you swim whilst wearing one. 8x
50m is a sensible maximum for a single session, even for advanced
swimmers.

Treat swimming with a band like a drill,
swimming over short distances of 25 or 50m at a time. The idea is to
swim quickly with good rhythm and focus on areas of your stroke which
will stop the legs sinking lower in the water. We suggest starting with
4x 25m with 15 seconds rest between each 25m, building up the distance
slowly as you become more competent wearing it.

Watch Paul
demonstrating how it should (and shouldn't!) be done below. Paul makes
this look quite easy but that's because he has a good stroke technique
with good rhythm and timing :

Try focusing on the following areas yourself:

- Make sure you are exhaling smoothly into the water to reduce the buoyancy in your chest and help bring your legs upwards.

- Try breathing less frequently than normal (e.g. every 5 strokes) to give you more time to get rid of the air in your lungs.

-
Stretch through the core, lifting your rib cage away from your hips.
This will improve your core stability and hold you higher in the water.
More on doing that here.

-
Keep your head low in the
water when you breathe, with one eye under the water, one out. We
sometimes call this the "split screen view" as you should be able to see
under and above the water at the same time:

- Focus on a good catch,
pressing the
water back behind you with good rhythm. A poor catch presses downwards
on the water (or forwards and away from you), this lifts you up at the
front and sinks your legs.

- Swim with a continuous rhythm
without any deadspots or pauses in your stroke. A pause will cause you
to stall in the water so that you start to sink (you can see this happen
in the clip of Paul above). More continuous propulsion overcomes the
resistance of the band and keeps you moving forwards effectively, just
like it does in open water.

Some men (particularly Arnies)
have very lean muscular legs that are very sinky in the water. If this
is you, try placing a small pull buoy between your legs whilst wearing a
band to rebalance you slightly. Make sure it's a small pull buoy
though, a large one will make things too easy and give you nothing
to focus on to improve, defeating the object of the exercise.When To Use It

Swimming
with a band is a good exercise to add into a drill set or open water
skills session. When you become proficient at it you can use bands in
group exercises too, drafting close to other swimmers and racing over
short distances. It's not easy but can be very beneficial to your
swimming, particularly if you want to perform better in open water.